While many different types of construction toys have been developed and marketed, in general these toys are composed entirely of rigid objects, such as wood, plastic or metal blocks and beams. Also, such construction toys are generally self-contained, i.e., they do not interface with objects or elements of a room.
Toys which incorporate a string are also generally self-contained. A classic example of such a toy is the yo-yo. In a similar vein is the Swinging Bob Toy of U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,208 which has two balls secured at the ends of the string and a center ball which is free to slide along the string between the two end balls. Another classic string toy has a string attached to a rolling object so a child can pull the object behind him/her. In another type of classic string toy, the string is attached to a spring mounted in a housing, so that pulling the string away from the housing tightens the spring, and the unwinding of the spring powers some type of sound-generating or visually-interesting mechanism.
There are very few examples of toys which are designed to interact with objects or elements of a room, other than a flat horizontal surface, such as the table top or floor, upon which the toy is placed. Furthermore, those examples which do exist have very limited kinetic properties. Target toys, such as dart boards, are typically mounted on a wall, but once the target board is mounted it remains stationary and only the darts are kinetic. Another example of a type of toy which relies on the characteristics of a room is indoor planetariums which have perforated star maps which, when illuminated from below, cast images of constellations on the walls and ceiling. The perforated star maps may be rotated to simulate the movement of constellations in the night sky. A more fanciful variation of indoor planetariums is the packages of glow-in-the-dark plastic stars which can be mounted on the walls and ceiling of a child's room. Although the glow-in-the-dark stars may be attached to the walls and ceiling using a removable adhesive, generally the stars are left in place once they are mounted. It may be noted that none of these examples of toys which interact or attach to elements of a room incorporate any kinetic mechanical elements connecting to the walls or ceiling, nor do they incorporate room elements other than the walls and ceiling.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction toy which includes string.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction toy where the motion of the elements of the toy is controlled by the string.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a construction toy which interfaces with room elements.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction toy which interfaces with room elements other than the floor, walls and ceiling.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction toy with kinetic mechanical elements.
Furthermore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a construction toy with kinetic mechanical elements which interfaces with room elements.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction toy with kinetic mechanical elements driven by a string which interfaces with room elements, including room elements other than the floor, walls and ceiling.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and the ensuing detailed description. These various embodiments and their ramifications are addressed in greater detail in the Detailed Description.